It’s hard to believe that summer is nearly over for Lancaster County schoolchildren. While autumn doesn’t officially arrive until next month, Monday morning thousands of local students will say goodbye to the carefree days of summer and return to the classroom.

This week, teachers began getting their rooms ready for their new students. Their planning and preparation will pay off as they welcome students back. Many students will be sporting new clothes and shoes and carrying new lunch boxes and backpacks full of new school supplies.

Lancaster County Council’s idea to set up its own sign-making shop is a good one. The county is going to have to replace road name signs and traffic signs in the county within the next few years to comply with a federal mandate.

The new signs must have more reflective features, which are meant to increase highway safety.

The mandate requires all regulatory signs, such as stop, yield and speed limit signs, be updated in the county by January 2015.

The 2010 season looks promising for Lancaster High School Bruins cross country team.

“Our team is growing each year,” LHS coach Josh Pauling said. “In three years, we have doubled in size, which is very exciting. We are trying to build a consistent, winning program here and it’s very rewarding to see it grow and to see the kids really embrace not only cross country, but a lifestyle of running and healthier habits. This season our roster is up to 27 runners and we want it to continue to grow each year.”

The Lancaster High School girls golf team remained unbeaten at 5-0 as it continued consistent play in recent matches.

On Sept. 7, the LHS girls defeated Fort Mill by 13 strokes, 191-204. Haley Heath was again the field medalist with a nine-hole score of 39. Alexandria McCain followed with a 43. Carley Snider shot 53, Rachel Hovis 56, Carly Funderburk 57 and Madison Sullivan scored a 65. Sara Allen led the way for Fort Mill with a 41.

It is not a novel idea and it doesn’t take a PhD to know that children have a better opportunity to succeed in life when they have someone to support and encourage them. Ideally, that person is the child’s parent.

Sometimes, however, that role is filled by a volunteer Guardian ad Litem. The difference?

A volunteer Guardian ad Litem is court-appointed to children who have been abused or neglected by their parents or other caregivers.

The Department of Social Services has become involved with the family and a family court case has been opened.

All babies are beautiful. We invite you to enter yours in our first annual Beautiful Baby Contest with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Newspaper In Education Program (NIE).

What is NIE? The Lancaster News NIE program provides 128 classrooms in Lancaster County with newspapers as a teaching aid. That amounts to more than 2,000 students reading and learning about local community events, local government and local issues that affect their lives.